Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Raffaela Petrini with Pope Francis. Photo: Vatican News Pope Francis names Franciscan sister to second-highest position in Vatican City State
Pope Francis has appointed Sr Raffaella Petrini to the second-ranking position in the government of the Vatican City State.
Sr Petrini is the first woman and non-clergy member to be secretary general of the Vatican’s governorate.
The appointment makes her one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican, alongside Sr Alessandra Smerilli, “ad interim” secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Sr Natalie Becquart, an under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops.
Sr Petrini replaces Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, who was promoted to president, effective from October 1.
Sr Petrini, 52, is a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. Since 2005, she has been an official in the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
The religious sister, who is from Rome, is also a professor of the economy of welfare and sociology at Rome’s Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), where she received a doctorate in social sciences.
She also has a master’s degree in organisation behaviour from the University of Hartford in Connecticut.
Pope Francis offers Mass for souls of 208 deceased clergy
Pope Francis celebrated Mass last Thursday for the repose of the souls of 208 cardinals and bishops who died in the past year.
The live-streamed Mass, celebrated at the Altar of the Chair on November 4, was offered for 17 cardinals and 191 bishops and archbishops who died between November 7, 2020, and October 25, 2021.
The elevated number of deaths this year reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Catholic Church’s leadership as last year’s Mass commemorated six cardinals and 163 bishops who died between October 2019 and October 2020. The year before, the Mass was offered for 13 cardinals and 147 bishops.
In his homily during the Mass, the Pope reflected on the first reading, from Lamentations 3:17-26, in which the author describes his sufferings before concluding: “It is good to wait in silence for the Lord to save”.
“This attitude is not a point of departure, but a point of arrival,” the Pope said. “In fact, the author arrives at it at the end of a journey, a bumpy path, which has made him mature. He comes to understand the beauty of trusting the Lord, who never fails to keep his promises.”
Vatican to open contemporary art gallery in historic papal library
The Vatican’s historic library has created a new space for hosting temporary art exhibitions.
Pope Francis inaugurated the gallery and visited its first exhibit on November 5.
The Vatican’s librarian Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça said in a press release that “the Vatican Apostolic Library inaugurates a new exhibition hall to support the culture of encounter”.
“Our challenge is to strengthen the cultural role of the Vatican in the contemporary world,” he added, describing the contrast between ancient works and contemporary art as “history meet[ing] the present”.
The modern iteration of the papal library is believed to date back to the 14th century, though there is evidence that the Catholic Church has preserved a library and archive from as early as the fourth century.
The building that houses the library today was built in the latter part of the 16th century.
From November through the end of February, the new exhibition hall will display unpublished works by the contemporary artist Pietro Ruffo in an exhibit called “everyone: Humanity on its way.”